Book Review: Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope is the latest book I received as a participant in the Book Sneeze blogger program by Thomas Nelson Publishers. As a part of that program, the publisher provides me a copy of the book and I agree to do a review of it on my blog. Of note, I’m not required to do a positive review, simply a review. It’s a great program, and if you have a blog and love to read, you might want to think about joining.

Have you ever looked through a kaleidoscope? What you see are a myriad of images, bright colors, and while nothing may seem to be connected, it is always a fascinating look. I have several and love spending time now and than just looking at what they do.

Kaleidoscope is written by Patsy Clairmont, who is an author and Women of Faith speaker. The subtitle of the book “Seeing God’s Wit and Wisdom in a Whole New Light,” gives you a glimpse into how she is going to present the Proverbs. In her foreward, she says “One of the things I found so appealing about Proverbs was how direct it was. I don’t have to struggle to get it. Proverbs is an in-your-face kind of book.” The book speaks about life lessons we can apply from Proverbs and points out how really simple it should be to “get it” with those lessons. At the same time, this author isn’t flowery about making statements that life is easy just because you have God in your life. I do love that about her writing. Her sense of humor makes it a fun read. Most important to me, it’s authentic.

I found this book to be a great read. I was reminded of verses in Proverbs I frankly haven’t read in a very long time and it made me want to do more reading to see what other verses surround the ones she referenced. I happened to start reading this just after I did a post on my leadership site about humility, and one of the first chapters spoke of that very topic. It was a great reinforcement. Her quote “we don’t have a clue what tomorrow will bring. It’s already full and we didn’t pack it” is a great reminder that we can’t plan our lives based on OUR plans, but that they are already planned for us. I also loved this one: “Perfectionism offers no free lunches, much less recess.” How much we all need reminders of that when we strive to be perfect and don’t make it!

The book pulls the book of Proverbs together and shows its practical advice for life in a way I’ve never seen it done before. I would definitely recommend it as a great book to get, read, and have on your bookshelf for reading again! I plan to do just that.